TV journalist, mystery author reveals her story to Milford women

The Milford Area Chamber of Commerce's Connected Women Leaders listened to a true storyteller tell yet another tale at a businesswomen’s luncheon meeting Friday.

By Zachary Comeau/Daily News staff

Milford Daily News

By Zachary Comeau/Daily News staff

Posted Sep. 28, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Sep 28, 2013 at 9:18 PM

By Zachary Comeau/Daily News staff

Posted Sep. 28, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Sep 28, 2013 at 9:18 PM

MILFORD

» Social News

The Milford Area Chamber of Commerce's Connected Women Leaders listened to a true storyteller tell yet another tale at a businesswomen’s luncheon meeting Friday.

About 30 women gathered at the Doubletree Hotel to hear Hank Phillippi Ryan, an investigative reporter for WHDH, NBC’s Boston affiliate station, discuss her career and her new mystery novel, "The Wrong Girl."

Ryan said her first job in journalism was as a television reporter, becoming the first woman working in the biggest news station in Indianapolis.

"I had no idea what I was doing and no one seemed eager to help me," said Ryan, admitting that she "went home sobbing" after work for a while after she started.

It wasn’t until her cameraman became a mentor that she felt comfortable on the job.

"Soon after, I realized ‘I got this,’ " she said.

Years later, Ryan said she was working with a producer, also a novelist, who helped to mentor her in the "book world."

Now, Ryan has four published mystery novels and has won numerous awards for her mystery writing, including the Agatha Award for Best First Novel for "Prime Time," a 2007 book.

Ryan, who will be 65 in two weeks, didn’t publish her first novel until 2009. And, she called herself a "poster child for following dreams at mid-life."

Her newest novel, "The Wrong Girl," chronicles the story of a girl determined to find her birth mother after an adoption agency sets up a meeting between a mother and the girl, but the two are not related.

Ryan said the idea for the novel came from her work as an investigative reporter when she was looking into a very similar story.

Being an investigative reporter and writing mystery novels, she said, aren’t all that different, as each require in-depth research and exposing mysteries.

"It’s all about secrets," she said.

On her dual career as a novelist and reporter, Ryan said both require the ability to tell a story.

She recalled being the only reporter in the station during the Boston Marathon in April, and rushed to get ready to go on air when the bombs went off. She had to report the story almost as it was happening.

But Ryan, who writes novels without an outline and admitted that she doesn’t know how her books will end, said she realized she was perfectly suited to report that day.

"That’s what I do everyday as a crime fiction author," she said. "I’m a storyteller – this is what I do."

Zachary Comeau can be reached at 508-634-7556 and zcomeau@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @ZComeau_MDN.